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To promote stable, constructive labor-management relations through the resolution and prevention of labor disputes in a manner that gives full effect to the collective-bargaining rights of employees, unions, and agencies.

11 FLRA No. 44
PROVIDENCE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION
MEDICAL CENTER, DAVIS PARK,
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND
Activity
and
LABORERS INTERNATIONAL UNION
OF NORTH AMERICA, HEALTH CARE
DIVISION, LOCAL 1056, AFL-CIO
Labor Organization/Petitioner
Case No. 1-RO-39
DECISION AND ORDER
Upon a petition duly filed with the Authority under section
7111(b)(1) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute
(the Statute), a hearing was held before a hearing officer of the
Authority. The Authority has reviewed the hearing officer's rulings
made at the hearing and finds that they are free from prejudicial error.
The rulings are hereby affirmed.
Upon the entire record in this case, including the parties'
contentions, the Authority finds: The Petitioner, Laborers
International Union of North America, Health Care Division, Local 1056,
AFL-CIO (LIUNA), seeks an election in a unit of all General Schedule
(GS) professional employees of the Activity, excluding, inter alia, all
Title 38 /1/ professional employees. /2/ The Activity contends that the
only appropriate unit under the Statute would encompass all
unrepresented professional employees, including Title 38 professionals;
that the unit sought therefore is inappropriate because the GS
professional employees do not share a community of interest separate and
distinct from the other professional employees of the Activity; and
that such a unit would lead to unwarranted fragmentation of the Activity
and would not promote effective dealings and efficiency of agency
operations.
For approximately 10 years, until May 1980, Local 980, National
Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), had been the certified exclusive
representative for a unit consisting of all nonsupervisory professional
personnel at the Activity, including Title 38 professionals; i.e., the
same unit which the Activity contends is the only appropriate unit
herein. /3/ LIUNA now seeks a unit limited to the GS professional
employees in the former NFFE unit, excluding Title 38 professionals,
contending that GS professionals have a community of interest separate
from Title 38 professionals.
The Authority finds that the unit which the Petitioner seeks to
represent is not appropriate for exclusive recognition under section
7112(a)(1) of the Statute. /4/ The record establishes that the GS
professionals here sought, as well as the Title 38 professional
employees of the Activity, have the same or substantially similar
occupational classifications and job descriptions and perform the same
functions; work side-by-side as integrated medical treatment teams;
have common supervision; are functionally integrated in carrying out
the mission of the Activity; have essentially the same working
conditions and are subject to the same legal and administrative
constraints applicable to patient care. Moreover, as indicated above,
there has been a history of collective bargaining at the Activity for a
unit consisting of GS and Title 38 professional employees. While Title
38 professionals are paid under a slightly different salary scale than
GS professionals and are in a different competitive area for purposes of
reduction-in-force, the Authority concludes that such differences fail
to support the Petitioner's assertion that Title 38 professional
employees have a clear and identifiable community of interest separate
and distinct from the other professional employees at the Activity.
Accordingly, the Authority finds that the unit sought is not appropriate
for exclusive recognition under section 7112(a)(1) of the Statute and
shall therefore dismiss the petition. See Department of the Navy, Navy
Publications and Printing Service Branch Office, Vallejo, California, 10
FLRA No. 108 (1982). See also Naval Sea Support Center, Atlantic
Detachment, 7 FLRA No. 99 (1982).
ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that the petition in Case No. 1-RO-39 be, and it hereby
is, dismissed. Issued, Washington, D.C., February 1, 1983
Ronald W. Haughton, Chairman
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
Leon B. Applewhaite, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
/1/ 38 U.S.C. 4104-4110.
/2/ LIUNA stated at the hearing that it was willing to proceed to an
election only in the unit described in its petition.
/3/ The only nonsupervisory professionals excluded from the NFFE unit
were nurses, who have been represented in a separate unit since 1979 by
the Petitioner, LIUNA Local 1056.
/4/ Section 7112(a)(1) of the Statute provides in pertinent part:
The Authority shall determine . . . any unit to be an
appropriate unit only if the determination will ensure a clear and
identifiable community of interest among the employees in the unit
and will promote effective dealings
with, and efficiency of the operations of, the agency involved.